# Namastey London

Namastey London (transl. 'Greetings London') is a 2007 Indian romantic comedy film, directed and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah. It stars Rishi Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Nina Wadia, Javed Sheikh, Upen Patel and Clive Standen. The film is originally based on the real life story of Kumar's friend. Riteish Deshmukh appears in a cameo role in the film.
"Namastey London" was released on March 23, 2007, and it received positive reviews for its direction, screenplay, and soundtrack, particularly Akshay Kumar's performance, which was highly acclaimed, and its music album, composed by Himesh Reshammiya. It was highly acclaimed and performed well on its music charts, with its songs becoming chartbuster hits. It was also a box office success, earning ₹71.40 crore worldwide, thus becoming the ninth-highest grossing Hindi film of 2007. The success of the film ended a long dry spell of box office failures since the release of Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love which was released in January 2007.
At the 53rd Filmfare Awards, Namastey London received 1 nomination – Best Actor (Kumar).
Several critics noted similarities between the film and Manoj Kumar's Purab Aur Paschim (1970), though the director denied it being a remake.

## Plot

Indian-born Manmohan Malhotra relocated to London to establish himself and return to India, and he married Bebo; after four years, he obtained a visa for her so that she could live with him. Shortly thereafter, she gave birth to Jasmeet. Manmohan was always embarrassed by Bebo, as she could not speak English and hence couldn't mingle with British people. As a result, he always left her out on important occasions while he socialised. Bebo did not want Jasmeet to end up like her, so she got her educated in an English school and encouraged her to mingle with British friends. Jasmeet was transformed into Jazz, a young, beautiful girl modern in looks, talk, habits, and heart. But she is ashamed of her Indian heritage and looks down on it. Her father had set her to meet a young person, Bobby Bedi, although the date turns out to be a disaster, and Bobby leaves and rejects her. Manmohan thinks that it is impossible to get him an Indian son-in-law, and his best friend, Parvez Khan, is in a similar situation with his son Imran, who has a girlfriend, Susan. Manmohan takes his family on a tour of India and forces Jasmeet to marry Arjun Singh, who does not know how to speak English.
On their return to London, Jasmeet announces that she will marry an Englishman named Charlie Brown, who is well educated and has good friends and connections, even with Prince Charles. She refuses to recognise her marriage to Arjun as there is no legal proof of the wedding.
When Jasmeet is introduced to the friends of the Brown family, she is subjected to racial comments from them and feels offended. Arjun notices Jazz is unhappy and goes with her to tell Charlie's family about India, and Jazz translates this for Charlie's family, as they don't understand Hindi. Jazz gets engaged to Charlie Brown, leaving Arjun depressed as he leaves, while Manmohan finds him in the bar. Arjun tells Manmohan that Jazz is going to marry Charlie, and he is in fact heartbroken that she left him for Charlie and realizes that he isn't the right man for her. Arjun also accepts Charlie's challenge of a rugby match despite not knowing how to play. Charlie and his rugby team mates make fun of the Indians and Pakistanis not knowing the game. As Manmohan is tired of playing rugby, he calls Arjun over to defeat the England team, and he wins the rugby match, impressing Jazz. Soon Arjun tells Jazz that when they get old they will meet at the same place they met when they were young. During this period, Jazz becomes close with Arjun and Charlie starts to get irritated with Arjun but Arjun still supports Jazz. Imran is then asked by Susan's parents to leave Islam and to become a Christian and to change his name to Emmanuel or Ian, as well as provide written proof that his family is not associated with terrorists. Jazz goes to Arjun to get a divorce and leaves. Before that, Arjun talks to his family and closes the call before breaking down into tears about this divorce. Jazz sees this and comforts him, and Arjun begins to tell her that when he begins to get old, he will go to London to meet her again next time. The film ends on a happy note when Imran decides not to be a Christian and Susan is accepted by Imran's family. Arjun walks Jazz down the altar to Charlie.
Jazz realizes that Arjun lied to her about not knowing English. Arjun speaks English and he tells Charlie to become a good husband to Jazz, and he leaves the wedding in tears not knowing that Jazz is going to marry Charlie and leave Arjun heartbroken in tears.
Jazz realized about Arjun’s heartbroken and decides not to marry Charlie as she began to have true feelings for Arjun and remembered her marriage with Arjun back in India. She runs away from her wedding to see Arjun, and her family begins to be proud and happier as Jazz is going to to marry Arjun as it was their true dream leaving Charlie upset alone.
After the wedding, she goes with Arjun back to India, where they are seen riding Arjun's motorcycle. While they are on the motorcycle, Arjun reveals that he all along he knew how to actually speak English and that he had already dropped the clue when he got offended at Charlie's uncle's derogatory comments on India. He adds that he lied because he was still an Indian at heart, and they smile together in a bike.

## Cast

* Akshay Kumar as Arjun Ballu Singh, an attractive man who falls in love with Jazz
* Katrina Kaif as Jasmeet ''Jazz'' Malhotra Singh, Manmohan and Bebo's daughter
* Rishi Kapoor as Manmohan Malhotra, Jazz's father and Bebo's husband
* Nina Wadia as Bebo Malhotra, Jazz's mother and Manmohan's wife
* Riteish Deshmukh as Bobby Bedi, Jazz's first love interest who rejects her (special appearance)
* Upen Patel as Imran ''Immi'' Khan, Susan's love interest
* Clive Standen as Charles "Charlie" Brown, Jazz's crush
* Tiffany Mulheron as Susan, Imran's love interest
* Jawed Sheikh as Parvez Khan, Imran's father who does not approve of Susan
* Vir Das as Prospective Groom No.2
* Kunal Kumar as Prospective Groom No.1
* Gurpreet Ghuggi as Taxi Driver

## Production

The first half of Namastey London was set in Punjab, while the second half took place in London. Consequently, the movie was filmed across 50 locations in the UK, including Slough, Windsor, Bromley, and various parts of London. Iconic London landmarks featured prominently, such as the London Eye (seen at least nine times), Tower Bridge, Millennium Bridge, St Paul’s Cathedral, Greenwich, Buckingham Palace, Canary Wharf, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery. The Punjab scenes were shot near Chandigarh.

## Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was released on 27 January 2007 and received good reviews. The songs were composed by Himesh Reshammiya. Salim–Sulaiman composed the film score. All songs were penned by Javed Akhtar.

## Release and reception

The film was released on 23 March 2007 worldwide.
Shooting for the film began on August 16, 2006, and it ended on Sep 7 2006.
Priyanka Chopra was the original choice for Jazz but was replaced by Katrina Kaif.
Namastey London received positive reviews from critics upon release. Taran Adarsh of indiafm.com wrote, "Namastey London is addictive stuff. You watch it once, you wanna watch it again." Kumar received almost unanimous praise for his portrayal of Arjun Singh, with a critic saying "Kumar certainly leaves his mark throughout the flick. One of the coolest performances of the star." Adarsh said "One of his finest performances so far, Namastey London also marks the coming of age of an actor who was often dubbed as an action hero or a funster. Kumar not only wins the heart of Kaif on-screen, he's sure to win the hearts of millions of moviegoers with a terrific portrayal in this film." On Katrina Kaif's performance he wrote, "she handles the complex part with remarkable ease. The pretty lass is only getting better with every film." Despite the generally favorable reviews, Prachi Singh of Moviewalah panned the film, with a verdict of 2 out of 5 stars.

## Box office

Namastey London opened to a good response and mainly picked up momentum after the second and third day of its release, a major reason being India's exit from the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The film did extremely well in the northern parts of India, especially in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. It also did well in Mumbai and in the first week of its release collected ₹73,575,657. The film was also received well in other parts of the country. The success of the film ended a long spell of box office failures since the release of Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love which released in January 2007. The film went on to gross ₹714,102,500 worldwide, making it one of the top hits of 2007.
The film was also successful overseas. It debuted at number 9 on the UK charts and similarly debuted within the top 20 in the United States and Australian charts. The film collected £238,841 in the first week of its release. As of 27 July 2007, the movie grossed an estimated $15,273,747 in five territories, which included the United States ($4,149,772), Australia ($197,148), India ($17,267,662), Malaysia ($15,285), and the United Kingdom ($9,021,900).

## Remake and sequel

The film was unofficially remade in Bengali as Paran Jai Jaliya Re starring Dev and Subhashree Ganguly. The Kolkata High Court in December 2009 banned the screening of the film for plagiarism after a petition was filed by the film's producers.
In March 2011, Shah had announced a sequel, Namaste England. Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha were initially signed to play the leads in the sequel. Namaste England was released in October 2018 with Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor starring.